USAID Approves Emergency Food Contribution to Djibouti
WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
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Public Information: (202) 712-4810
2003-001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 2, 2003
Contact: USAID Press Office
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing 4,000 metric tons of emergency food commodities to Djibouti. Valued at approximately $2 million, this contribution of rice, corn soy blend, lentils and vegetable oil will arrive in April and will help feed up to 96,000 drought-affected people. The World Food Program will distribute the food by targeting those most vulnerable to food insecurity, including pastoralists who have lost their livestock to drought and populations displaced by the drought.
In response to a personal appeal by President Ismail Omar Gulleh in September outlining the food shortages facing the country, the United States will contribute approximately one-third of the average annual food shortfall to Djibouti. In 2002, the United States contributed 1,900 metric tons of food, valued at $1.1 million, to the World Food Program for refugee feeding programs. In 2001, the United States contributed 6,000 metric tons in response to a World Food Program emergency appeal.
Djibouti is a chronic food deficit country which requires 13,000 metric tons of food annually from the international community to meet shortfalls. During a normal non-drought year, according to UNESCO, 33% of Djibouti's children suffer from chronic or acute malnutrition. Infant and maternal mortality is also excessively high. Approximately one in ten infants (117 out of 1,000 births) die at birth and nearly two in ten (157 per 1,000 children) die before age five due to poor nutrition and lack of pre-natal care.
Given the immediate food needs of drought-affected Djiboutians, the United States is urging other donors to contribute to their humanitarian food requirements and longer-term development needs as well.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years.
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